Fruit and vegetable juice consumption continues to increase in part because of technological change in juice processing and concentration methods. Flash pasteurization, improved thermal concentrating, freeze concentrating, blending, freezing, and drying or crystallization all contributed to this growth by providing better quality, better tasting and higher purity juice products which are more convenient to use. The current health awareness by consumers has also contributed to the consumption of fruit juices and other natural beverages.
The challenge of producing beverages which are acceptable to a broad range of consumers involves making a unique product having an acceptable flavor and aroma, acceptable appearance and satisfactory mouthfeel. The aroma and flavor ingredients along with the amount of pectin, pulp and fiber in beverages affect the flavor and mouthfeel characteristics of the beverage.
Fiber has been shown to be an important part of the human diet. Consumption of both soluble and insoluble fibers are believed to be important in lowering blood cholesterol levels and in improving the overall function of the bowels. There is also a belief that fiber helps to prevent intestinal cancer.
Problems with adding fiber to beverages are the gelling effect of the soluble fiber and the harsh mouthfeel of the insoluble fiber which is described as gritty. Another problem, particularly with fibers derived from oranges and other citrus products is a papery off-flavor associated with the cellulosic components. In addition, it is well known that pulp adsorbs aroma and flavor ingredients in the beverage. The adsorption of the good volatiles results in a significant deterioration in quality and overall flavor of the beverage. Fiber and pulp can also adsorb bad flavors such as oxidation products or cooked flavors.
Drying citrus cellulosic materials can create burnt or cooked flavors in the fiber. For instance, lipids can be oxidized, sugars can be caramelized and amino acids and sugars can undergo browning reactions. Such degradation products can cause off-flavors in a fiber-containing beverage. The fiber produced by the method of co-pending patent application of Tarr et al, U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/552,280 filed Jul. 12, 1990 does not have these off-flavors and does not cause excessive gelling or grittiness in the beverage.
It is an object of this invention to produce a fruit juice which contains citrus fiber in a nutritionally effective amount, but which does not make the beverage too viscous or gelled, or gritty in texture and which does not introduce a papery, non-caramelized off-flavor to the product.
This and other objects of this invention will become apparent by the description of the invention below.